Bruce Ely/The Oregonian
Oklahoma City center Kendrick Perkins tries to stop Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge during Monday's game. Aldridge scored 39 points in the Blazers second loss at home this season.

LaMarcus Aldridge on Monday learned he got one more vote to strengthen his chances at making the All-Star Game -- Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks being the latest to reveal he voted for the Trail Blazers forward to make the Western Conference roster.

But right now, Aldridge and the Blazers would probably trade his certain All-Star berth for another title: Closer.

Never has the retirement of Brandon Roy this season been felt so much as in late-game situations for the Blazers, who find themselves routinely in position to win games, but painfully absent when it comes time to do what made Roy a legend around here: closing.

It was painfully apparent again on Monday when the Blazers couldn't hold a six-point lead with two minutes and change left in regulation, then couldn't get a legitimate look at potential game-tying shot in the closing seconds. It led to another painful loss, this time 111-107 in overtime to Oklahoma City.

Just like he should, Aldridge was in the middle of all the late-game drama on Monday. But, like has happened so many other times this season, Aldridge and the Blazers came up empty.

This one will get put right alongside the missed looks at Houston. The big leads that slipped away in Utah and Sacramento. The panic attack in Golden State. And the Motown Meltdown in Detroit.

When the Blazers led by six with 2:18 left, they had multiple opportunities to put the game away, but Aldridge missed all three of his attempts. Then, with the Blazers trailing by two in overtime with 30 seconds left, the Blazers went to Aldridge in the post. He backed Kendrick Perkins into the lane, but when he saw Serge Ibaka come in to double-team, Aldridge passed to Kurt Thomas.

"I thought he could get a clean look, or he could swing it to someone for a clean look," Aldridge said. "It didn't work out that way."

No, it sure didn't. Thomas hesitated and passed to Jamal Crawford with about 15 seconds left. Crawford tried to create his own shot, but he slipped, momentarily lost control of the ball, then was forced to try a difficult, baseline fadeaway to beat the shot clock. Perkins blocked his shot from behind, the Thunder rebounded and streaked the length of the court for a game-sealing dunk.

So, yes, Aldridge had 39 points, and for stretches carried the Blazers in the fourth, including giving them their first lead after trailing by as many as 11 in the second half. And he really should have had the play of the game, a clean block of Kevin Durant with 6 seconds left that was inexplicably ruled a goaltend by referee Scott Foster.

But in the end, there were more than a few Blazers fans shaking their heads at the team's late-game execution, which mostly looked like a bunch of uncertainty and tentativeness.

When Roy was here, he would take that uncertainty and tentative feelings of his teammates and swallow it for them. He not only put the burden on his shoulders, he delivered while carrying that weight.

Aldridge admirably wants to carry that weight. He just hasn't yet been able to follow through enough.

The Blazers may have found their All-Star to replace Roy, but they haven't yet found their Closer.

"It's something I want to be," Aldridge said Monday night. "And I'm going to get it. I've worked too hard not to get it. I've gotten better every year, and last year, I did it for a stretch. But maybe me and Nate (McMillan) have to talk about different positions to put me in late in the game. This is all about growth, and working on it."

The Blazers can lament all they want about their poor rebounding. And spotty guard play. But right up there at the top of the list is closing out games. If they have one, those losses to Houston, Utah, Sacramento and Oklahoma City are victories. And so, too, maybe are the losses at Golden State and Detroit.

"We are developing that," McMillan said of finding a closer. "And LaMarcus is the guy we are going to play through down the stretch. But that is something that he will get more and more opportunities to do."